The Miami Heat grabbed a crucial Game 3 win Saturday night, knocking off the Indiana Pacers, 99-87, to take a 2-1 series lead in the Eastern Conference Finals.

LeBron James (26 points, seven assists, five rebounds, four steals) and Dwyane Wade (23 points, three steals) led the way for Erik Spoelstra's team, but veteran Ray Allen dropped the hammer with four three-pointers in the final period to seal the win.

Indiana led by as many as 15 in the second quarter, but as NBA.com's John Schuhmann pointed out, the Heat went on an absolute rampage in the second half:

The Heat scored 61 points on 41 possessions (149 per 100) in the 2nd half.

Miami turned swarming defense (17 turnovers for Indiana) into an unstoppable offense, shooting 54.4 percent from the field and 55.6 percent from beyond the arc.

The first half was defined by sloppy play—something that James actually foreshadowed when speaking with reporters following Miami's Game 2 win:

It's not going to be pretty. Not in the Eastern Conference. It's never pretty basketball in the Eastern Conference. It's about who can sustain runs. You know, who can get defensive stops? Who can not turn the ball over and who can get great shots?

Well, neither team could "not turn the ball over"—they combined for 23 giveaways in the first half—but the Pacers seemed to benefit.

Miami looked out of sync for most of the first quarter. Luis Scola had more points (eight) than James, Wade and Bosh (seven) combined after 16 minutes and the Pacers led 37-22 halfway through the second period.

Frank Vogel's team unraveled over the final six minutes of the half, though, giving away the ball ad nauseum and hardly getting any looks at the basket, as NBA.com's Couper Moorhead noted:

Over the last six minutes of the second quarter, the Pacers took four shots.

With Bosh and Udonis Haslem in foul trouble, and Mario Chalmers not making a major impact, Heat head coach Eric Spoelstra had to rely upon his bench more. Bleacher Report's Ethan Skolnick applauded the head coach's adjustments:

The Heat bench has combined for 81 minutes already. Spoelstra's really had to coach this game. And what he's done has worked so far.

Spoelstra's moves continued to pay off in the fourth quarter, as he moved to a small lineup with James at the 4 and Bosh at the 5. That helped free up space for Allen, who caught fire on his way to 13 fourth-quarter points.

His third trey of the quarter gave Miami its biggest lead, 11, at the 4:58 mark, continuing his recent trend of timely shooting, per NBA.com:

Make that now 8 of Ray Allen's 18 made 3's this postseason that have come in the 4th Quarter (3-of-3 so far tonight)